Winds of Change
by KuroXue
Summary: Its been decades since the end of Breaking Dawn, and the Cullens have been enjoying the peace of their eternal lives. Renesmee has grown into a lovely, healthy young woman, and all seems better than expected in the world. What happens when an unexpected "guest" sends the Cullen family down a path they never thought they would have to travel? Will they all survive? Edward POV
1. Chapter 1: Its been a Long Day

_Disclaimer: All rights and characters are Property of Stephanie Meyer. This is solely a non-profit depiction of the lives of her characters (except for those I am creating for the sake of plot) after the story ended from my perspective. Also, I am basing the timeline on that of the "Missing Pieces" series by PA Lassiter. Much like Lassiter, I am giving this story through Edwards's eyes, for two reasons. One, through Edward, it will allow us to look at all characters thoughts on a situation, and two, as a man, it is easier for me to identify with him. I will not spend much time with backstory as it is presumed you have read the original material and are familiar with the characters. I will only have backstory to catch us up to the current point in the Cullen family. Enjoy…_

Chapter 1: It's Been a Long Day

It has been nearly 6 decades since our last run in with the Volturi. My family still continues it generally sheltered existence, keeping much to ourselves to avoid public scrutiny. Fortunately for most of my family, because of the age we were turned into the immortal, we can pass for up to a ten to fifteen years older or a few years younger than we were, making living in one place for long periods much easier, allowing Renesmee, my miracle of a daughter, plenty of time to explore each new environment we must move to before we must move on.

I once thought of my kind as never changing, never developing after the change from mortal to immortal. I thought of us as literally frozen in time. But, of course, it seems I was wrong about that. Over that last near 60 years, my family has gone through quite a few drastic changes. Not surprisingly, most were inspired by my Bella. It became an unspoken goal of our family to further develop our "extra" abilities after witnessing Bella's amazing growth during the Volturi conflict. Her display of power and control urged us all to find greater depths in our skills then we'd ever believed possible. Jasper had learned that he could not only manipulate emotions, but control them. Not just nudge the dial, but completely change the course of ones action by projecting apathy or excitement directly into someone's mind. Renesmee had grown out of her need to touch to share her gift. She could put pictures of her mind directly into yours from a good distance away. It would only work with one person at a time, but we all felt with practice, she would eventually become as skilled as Zafrina, our Amazonian friend who had become very close with Nessie due to their similar talents. But the greatest growths were shown in Alice and myself.

With some insight from Carlisle, my father and creator, I discovered that my ability as a mind reader was vastly under developed. I could only hear the current thought in a mind, and hear everyone in a crowd all at one time. This has been the bane of my existence when I was forced to sit through days of high school, and still is whenever we move to a new area in which I had to pretend to be in my teens, instead of my 20s, or 160s if I was being honest. After a half century of practice, I had now learned to focus my mind reading on one specific mind, and in doing so, much like Aro, I could also see any strong memories they carried. I couldn't see everything their mind ever held, but any moments in time their mind held to tightly, significant memories, I could easily sift through. I also learned to completely tune out others mental voices, much to the delight of my family who wanted their intimate moments to remain private.

Alice, not to be outdone in anyway, set out on a seemingly impossible task. She had never been able to see the futures of hybrid creatures such as the shape-shifting wolves of the Quileute clan, the only humans who knew the whole truth about my family, and human/vampire children like my daughter. She surmised that because they were beings she never herself had been, she could not "see" them, they were blind spots because of the genetic makeup of them. But a thought occurred to her. I could see into the minds of these hybrids, her husband could influence their emotions, so genetics must not be the cause. With study she figured out why she could not see them. Her gift was entirely internal in its manifestation. It was not something that affected others, only her own mind. She KNEW vampires and humans, but hybrids were out of her "norm", therefore she could not see through their responses with her own expectations. With that thought in place, she attempted to correct this. She would spend hours with Renesmee, asking her to share any and every thought she had, emotion she felt, reactions to everything she encountered. She hoped that by learning the way Renesmee thought, how "her kind" reacted to stimuli, she could remove the veil over her future. Over time, years, bits and flashes of Renesmee began to appear in Alice's mind. Then one day, during their daily interaction, the flood gates opened, and Alice saw years and years of coming events in my daughter's life. And not only hers, but also that of our Brazilian half vampire acquaintances, Nahuel and his sisters. By knowing one, she knew them all in a way. What she saw in our Nessie's future surprised her the most, but she chose to keep it to herself, as we would all learn soon enough.

Somethings, fortunately, did remain the same. My family was as close knit as ever. Each of our individual personalities still formed a strong family unit we all could depend on. Our still mostly predictable behavior still brought on the laughs, the happy vampire tears, the exasperated sighs (mostly due to my brother Emmett's never ending jokes that we both loved and hated at the same time). Bella and I still after all this time, remained as in love and passion as we had when our marriage first began. Spending night after painfully short night wrapped in each other, physically and emotionally, not fading one bit in joy over the years. As expected, Bella's strength decreased to that of your normal vampire after her first year, leaving me the dominant one once again. Bella didn't mind, though. She no longer had to worry about inuring me during sex. And she enjoyed when I took control and knew that I would not deny her if she ever wanted to take the reins from a physical standpoint. Her eyes had faded to the gold that we all carried due to drinking the blood of animals, but much to my pleasure, small flecks or her milk chocolate eye color that I loved so much began to show in the gold. This of course caused me to inspect the eyes of my family closely, noticing small hints of blues, browns and greens in all of them. The red eyes of newborns and vampires feeding on humans covered up any hints of the color, and even in us, human eyes could never detect the subtle aberration, but still it was there.

Yes, my life has been beyond my expectations in the years since I married Bella. My daughter had grown into a beautiful young woman. She stopped aging slightly younger looking than expected. She looked to be no older than 16 (much younger looking than we had expected looking at the other hybrids we knew, likely caused by us completely cutting the human blood component from her diet after her first year), so in public she could pass for Bella's or my younger sister (even at the oldest ages we could claim to be, we still looked far too young to have a 16 year old child). When she stopped aging, I began to worry more and more about the situation with Jacob, Bella's werewolf (shape shifter) best friend. He had imprinted on my daughter moments after her birth, and in the Quileute culture, a wolf always married the object of his imprint. But even fully matured, she could never pass for Jacobs's wife. She still looked like a teen, and while his wolf genes prevented him from actually aging, his physical growth placed him well into his mid-twenties. We all were concerned that her step into maturity would spur new thoughts in Jacob, seeing Nessie as a mate instead of just a close loved one. But that apparently was nothing to even be concerned with. Jacob told me once that he would be whatever Nessie needed him to be, and at the age of maturity, she saw Jacob as a loving uncle, much the way she saw Emmett and Jasper. And Jacob graciously accepted that role without even a hint of disappointment. He was just happy to have her in his life in any way that allowed him to be close and to care for her. In a way, the choice of relationship Nessie made freed Jacob in a way. Since she had made it clear through thoughts that I translated to him and actions between the two that their relationship would never leave the realm of familial, his eyes were open to other possibilities for his future.

Not that the events that followed were any less of a surprise than Nessie's choice. We were all surprised, some more than others to discover our family, with the extension of the wolfs, were still a family of firsts. Jacobs second in command, Leah Clearwater, never liked to be close to my family. But she also never wanted to be too far from Jacob. We never understood why exactly, since she was more than capable to run the pack business, but for years she would always come to Jacob first before any decisions. I am not sure how I missed it, maybe being in the pack mind as the only female for so long gave Leah practice at hiding thoughts she didn't want to share, but once Renesmee had settled into the comfortable relationship status between her and Jacob, Leah came clean. At some point in the past, Leah had imprinted on Jacob. For the first time in history (since she was the first female wolf in history and there had yet to be a homosexual shape-shifter to our knowledge) a double imprint had occurred. A wolf imprinted on someone who had imprinted on another. In any other circumstance, someone's heart would have been broken beyond all repair. But thanks to my precious daughter's decision, Leah was free to express her devotion, and Jacob, knowing it would not interfere with his imprint on Renesmee, was free to accept it.

When Jacob told us the news, his mind lingering on their first "contact", I listened intently to Nessie's thoughts, searching for any negative reaction to it. Fortunately I heard nothing but true joy from her mind. She was elated that Jacob had found happiness like the kind she saw in her mother and father. Focusing in, I heard that she had been worried that by not falling into line with the norm for imprinted women, she was stealing his future away from him (like father, like daughter). She was happy that he had moved on so to speak, and could be happy with Leah and she would still have her Uncle Jacob.

Of course our lives had not been completely rosy. The time finally came that the Cullens had to leave Forks Washington. Bella had been spending as much time with Charlie, her father, as she could. It had already been 9 years since Bella's change. He had seen Renesmee grow from a wordless toddler to a graceful teen in an impossible time. He had dealt with the calls from Renee, crying over the "plane crash" from Switzerland that killed Bella and I. He knew that Carlisle had to quit his job at the hospital for "unknown reasons" (in truth, he just couldn't keep making excuses for his age) and had begun commuting to Seattle to work night shifts in a clinic. He had been waiting for the day we just all disappeared. But Bella made sure that he got his proper goodbye and a promise of phone calls from where ever we landed for as long as possible from her and Nessie. On his last visit, he had even hugged me goodbye, and in his wordless way, forgiven me for the pain I had caused Bella in her human life and thanked me for his grand-daughter.

We had traveled to Alaska to stay with the Denali clan for a time while we investigated our prospects. Jacob came to visit often, but gave Renesmee space to be an "adult", as she had wanted. We heard through him that after we left, the wolf population had diminished to near nothing. Once we were gone, the urge to phase in the wolves left them, leaving only Jacob, Quil Atera, and Sam Uley, the direct descendants of the original 3 wolves. We received all sorts of news from the place we'd called home most recently. Seth Clearwater, Leah's brother, graduating from college. Mike Newton, a school "friend" of Bella's becoming a police officer under Charlie. But most excitedly, Bella and I received not only news, but an invitation. We were given special permission to enter the Quileute land to attend a special ceremony in which Jacob was appointed official tribal chief. What was amazing was the fact that we were accepted with generally open arms to the event. Everyone knew we were Renesmee's parents, and she had been so kind when she visited with Jacob, that the fear of vampires seemed to finally melt away. We were invited back again a year later for Jacob and Leah's wedding, then once more, to meet their son, the future leader of the tribe.

That was our last visit back to Forks however. On that time, the joy of new life was marred by an announcement from Jacob. Since becoming a father, he wanted to live his life as a family man, to grow with his son. So he renounced his claim as alpha wolf, remaining only the tribal chief, and decided to stop phasing so he could grow old with Leah. For the first time, Renesmee had to deal with the loss of someone. Though he would still be around for years to come presumably, Renesmee knew that he would not last forever like the rest of her family. But, being her mother's daughter, she hid her own pain and showed nothing but support for his decision, acceptance for his promise that for long as he was able, if she ever needed anything, he would come running as fast as his body would carry him. As we traveled home (by car for Renesmee's benefit) I heard her whisper in her mind a simple goodbye to her Uncle Jacob. She handled it with grace, and I would leave her to her thoughts until she wished to say them aloud.

Bella had made a joke the first day of her new life, saying that this was the first and last day of forever. Well…it had been a very long day. But the biggest surprises were yet to come.


	2. Chapter 2: The Same

_I told my self that if I even get 1 follow to this story, I would continue. Thank you to anyone who reads and reviews. **DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE ORIGINAL MATERIAL OF THE TWILIGHT SERIES.**_

Chapter 2:

Nearly twenty years after we left Forks, Bella and I nearly lost our whole world, AGAIN. It started out innocently enough. As years went on, Renesmee had come to realize that she did not "enjoy" the human aspects of her life, and she realized that the more human activities she took part in, like eating human food, the more her humanity showed itself in her body reactions. Slowly, she began weaning herself off of human food, hunting with the family more often than before. Only eating human food when it was necessary made her life easier, so we would not try to intervene. Eventually, the choice was taken away forever.

We were living in Canton, OH because it was still a fairly sunless place, only really shining about 48% of the time. The hunting prospects were good, black bears and plenty of deer (sadly mountain lions were scarce) so feeding wasn't an issue. Nessie had gone hunting along with Jasper, and Emmett. She still had a very competitive nature, and despite her distaste for animal blood, competing for the biggest prey still compelled her to try harder than she might otherwise. Due to a recent sunny streak in the area, the family hadn't wanted to risk going out to hunt for a few days even though it passed our normal two week time span, so Renesmee had chosen to just eat human food while she waited for the challenge of beating Emmett or Jasper. She hadn't hunted in a while and her body was more human than normal, more fragile than she was when she fed on blood.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Bella and I had taken advantage of our alone time, as we normally did every chance we got. We had been pleasantly wrapped around each other in our room, exploring each other's bodies as if we were still days and not decades into our marriage. We were completely lost in a marital bliss, until we heard screaming coming from the rear of the house.

"AHHHH! MOM, DAD HELP!"

We had never heard such pain in our daughter's voice, especially since she still preferred to speak with her mind. Hearing our daughter scream this way completely blocked out all other thoughts. Her safety became the only thing in the world. Before the sentence was completely out, Bella and I were dressed and out into the yard, just in time to see Emmett carrying Renesmee in his arms, a mortified look on his face.

 _I'm so sorry. I should have been closer,_ the only coherent thought in his mind. Jasper, who followed closely behind, was calmer, but not even the slightest bit less concerned. Through his mind I saw the whole story.

"Renesmee, what happened?!" Bella shrieked in a voice so high, I doubted humans could have heard it. Un-paralled fear was clear on her face as we sprinted to meet our daughter and brothers. The moment she registered the fear, Renesmee, just like her mother, clamped her mouth shut. She knew I could hear, but wanted to protect Bella from how much she was suffering. Not that it would help, we could see the way her body was contorted

To prevent herself from having to speak, unsure if she could keep her voice steady, she reached for her mother's face to answer her question, knowing I would hear it too.

 _Uncle Em, Uncle Jazz and I were hunting bear. I tried to take one down on my own, but I didn't realize how slow I was moving until it was too late. It got its arms around me and before I could fight myself free, it squeezed and felt something crack. Uncle Em got to me quickly and tossed the bear away, and Uncle Jazz drained it as soon as it hit the ground. But I couldn't stand up. So they carried me back._

Even though I had seen it happen second hand from Jaspers mind, hearing it my daughter's mental voice accompanied with pictures she chose to show the event struck me with a pain so great I could barely stand myself. It had crushed her ribs. She was still strong enough not to be sobbing, but the pain was still immense. She was doing everything in her power not to scream. I looked at Bella and the same shock and fear that plagued me was wreaking havoc on her, and for good reason. We had seen Renesmee heal from small injuries, a scrape or bruise that came from playing too rough with her uncles or the wolves back in forks. She always healed within minutes, but never anything of this magnitude. We had no idea what to do.

By this time Alice, Rosalie and Esme had joined us, and Bella began telling them the story. I immediately called my father, who was working in a Hospital in lower Pittsburg PA, the closet hospital with a need for a doctor of his caliber. The way we drove on the empty morning and evening streets, the 2 hour drive took less than a third of that. After a few redirections, I finally reached him.

"Edward? What's wrong? What's happened?" Carlisle spoke softly but urgently into the phone. We never called him at work and he was immediately on alert.

"Carlisle, Renesmee is hurt, multiple broken ribs. Her strength failed mid-hunt and she was severely injured by a bear. She isn't healing like normal. She hasn't been hunting, and her body is responding like a humans. We don't know what to do." I said these words in a rush. I was so panicked that if I didn't move fast, I would freeze into a statue and not move at all.

"She needs blood Edward. I can bring home some from the hospital. I can be home in a few hours and…"

"We can't wait that long Carlisle!" I struggled to control my voice to little avail. "Her body is more human like now. She has internal bleeding, I can smell it. I would run out and catch her some kind of animal to drink from, but I don't know how much time I have and can't leave her, and it may not have the affect we need fast enough. Can't you get back any sooner?"

"I'm sorry son…leaving here by car in the middle of the day would take at least 2 hours. This is not like the open areas of Washington and I can't hear the cops before they see me. If I run, to avoid detection this early in the day with people about, it will take me even longer, and I still have to secure the blood before I go."

I didn't know what to do. I was afraid for my daughter, but I had no options. I could smell the pools of blood beneath the skin growing by the second. If we didn't find an answer soon, my daughter would die the way I feared her mother dying while she was pregnant, exsanguination. Even though I doubted it would help fast enough, I planned to race as fast as I could to find the biggest source of blood to save my child. But before I could take a step, my daughter gave me the shock of a lifetime.

 _Daddy…I know what to do._ Through the anguish, she was staring straight into my eyes. _I know mommy would be afraid of my choice, but that is why you have to get us alone. If I can talk to her, she will be made to understand, but only I can say it without everyone putting in their two cents._

There it was; the shock that pushed me over the edge of my building panic. I was stunned into a statue. I could see my daughter's idea. And though it had been the same as mine at a time, I was just as afraid as Nessie expected Bella to be. But there is was, clear as day in my daughters mind, the reason behind her choice. Why she was not afraid. I could see that if this hadn't happened, she would have soon asked for what has now become her only option anyway.

"Emmett, give me Renesmee, and everyone, leave her, Bella and I alone for a moment."

"Edward, this is no time for secrecy. We have to do some…" Bella began to argue. She was scared and felt a little better surrounded by the family.

"Just trust me Bella. I need to speak with you and Renesmee alone."

Rosalie immediately jumped in, on Bella's side of course. "Edward this is one family, and we all have to find a solution." I could see in her mind she believed that I would try something like let Renesmee die, as I planned to do at one time with Bella to keep her human. How could she believe that after all this time? Did she not know me and my love for my daughter at all?

"Rosalie…" I struggled to keep my voice calm. Though her intentions were good in this case, I hated when she always made me out to be some sort of villain with an ulterior motive. This was my child for god sakes.

Bella looked me straight in the eye. I knew she wouldn't think of me like Rosalie, but she still was afraid of my calm demeanor. She thought, I believed, that any delay, even a short conversation would cost our daughter her life. She searched my eyes for a long moment, and I don't know what she found, but she decided to trust me.

"Everyone, please leave us for now. Let Edward and I talk. We will find a solution. We must." Bella spoke in a low whisper. There was no confidence in her voice. But she had confidence in me enough to hear me out. Little did she know that this solution did not come from me at all, but from her daughter.

Emmett eased Renesmee down into my arms and disappeared into the house. _She'll be fine. He'll never let her down._ He knew me well, and knew I would never jeopardize Nessie's wellbeing. Without any convincing he trusted me. One by one, they all filed in after him, each praying in their own way for some kind of miracle.

"Ok Edward. What is it?" Bella's fear coupled with impatience made her angry. For once I was glad I was stronger than her again, incase her anger got the better of her.

"Mom, this was my idea." Nessie's words caught Bella off guard. Her anger dissipated into her fear and love for our child.

"Renesmee, what is it? What can we do for you?"

"Mom, dad," she began through grit teeth and panting breaths, "I know what to do now. But I will need one of you. Mom, don't be afraid, because I know this will work. You need to make me like you. I need one of you to bite me."

Bells froze mid-breath. She could not believe what she had just heard. She turned on me. "Edward, how could you convince her of this? You know my opinion on this matter; this could just kill her even faster. Why would you even put this into her head?" For the first time in years, true anger from Bella was directed at me. But before I could speak, Nessie stepped in.

"Mom, this is not daddy's idea. It's mine. He was just as stunned as you are, but I told him first because I knew he would see why I want this. It won't kill me. I know it won't. Listen…"

"Absolutely not. We will find another way Renesmee. I will bring you a thousand bears. You will heal."

"Please, just listen to me. I know am dying. I feel myself getting weaker. I know this level of pain is not something anything but an immortal can survive. And you can make me one. It's happened before." In the back of my mind, I was astounded at Renesmee's control. From the smell coming off of her, I could tell how much blood she was losing under the skin, and from the sound of her breathing, I could tell the amount of pain she was in. Yet she still had her wits about her. She could still explain and express herself clearly. My family never ceased to amaze me.

"What do you mean? How do you know? I know your father is sure," she was still blaming me for this kind of risk, "but we don't know what will happen to you."

"I do know. Nahuel told me so." This was news to Bella. She had no idea Renesmee still spoke with Nahuel, since we hadn't seen him in over a decade and Renesmee had never bought it up. Even I hadn't known until I saw it in her mind. "We have been keeping contacting through mail, a letter now and then to tell me how things are going, keeping me updated on any changes he goes through, which were minute if at all, just in case. One of his sisters, Thainara, had stopped feeding on humans a few years after Joham's death. She had fallen in love with a human man in Brazil, and when she killed him accidently, she swore off humans in her guilt. She thought to follow our example, feeding on animals, but she could never find a taste for it. Unlike me, she preferred human food to that.

"After a few years, she was not much different than a normal human and decided to live in the city. She was doing well until she was caught in a robbery in Fortaleza in her building stairwell. She was shot, and would have died. Fortunately for her, Nahuel just happened to be coming to visit, and found her. He knew he could not take her to a hospital, and began to panic. He acted on impulse to save her, and bit her. She started writhing in pain far worse than she had from the gunshot, so he ran with her as fast as he could carry her to the edge of the city. They hid in an abandoned building to hide her screams, and in just under a day, she awoke as a new born vampire. Huilen helped teach her to hunt without being detected and with far more empathy than Joham had ever taught her, and she has been a full vampire for the last 2 years."

We were torn, well Bella was. She was still fearful of what would happen. I trusted my daughter, and her words were truthful. I looked to Bella and nodded reassurance. She couldn't move.

"Bella, we have to. There is no alternative." I held my hand to her and waited for her to see that I was right, that Nessie was right. For a long moment, she stared at me. She took a deep breath and took my hand. Without a word, we knew how we would do this. We laid Renesmee down, careful to jostle her as little as possible. He breathing was getting weak, and we knew it was now or never. Each of us took one of Renesmee's hands, kissed it, and with one last nod from Renesmee, bit into her wrists on either side, joining our venom as we had joined our genes to once again give life to our daughter.

The effect was almost instant. Her eyes opened wide and he mouth opened in a scream that tore Bella and I to pieces. We could each feel the pain she was in in that moment, each of us remembered our own changes. The entire family came running from the house. Of course, they had heard the whole conversation, but seeing it happen shook them all. Fear struck each of us as we sat and stood, staring at our precious Renesmee suffering through the fire of transformation. Seemingly aware of her audience, Renesmee shut her eyes and mouth tight; restraining herself from further screams that would only torture us more despite the fact that this was her choice.

She was so much like Bella, such a selfless child.

Only Alice showed no signs of shock. In fact she made a joke, using Emmett's normal means of lightening a mood.

"And I just worked so hard to see her future, and now she goes and does this…" We all stared at her blankly, all of us at the same time coming to a realization. Alice had hidden that she had seen Renesmee as a vampire from all of us, even from me.

"You knew this would happen?" Bella accused, starting to become angry again.

"Of course, but I also saw what would happen if I told you. Renesmee would never forgive me. She planned to be asked to be turned just before we moved from here in a few years, but the bear kinda rushed her plans. IF I would have told you what she was going to do, she never would have trusted me again. I couldn't let that happen."

Bella calmed down at once. She knew how we all loved Renesmee, and that she was now matured enough to make her own choices and keep her own secrets. She nodded in apology for her tone to Alice, and in her calm she remembered another recent accusation she had made.

"Edward," she whispered, "I am so sorry for how I acted. I was just afraid. I haven't felt fear like that since the Volturi came, and I took it out on you."

"There is no need for apology my love. I understand. But she will be fine. And now we will all be an indestructible family." I snickered to myself. "Renesmee once thought as a child we could be a super hero family and was disappointed by the fact that she could not be as fast or strong as us. Should I go buy matching jumpsuits?"

Bella smiled, but couldn't bring herself to laugh when she was still kneeling next to the body of our daughter as she struggled to remain still against the pain. I was not concerned by this. I had seen my whole family go through the change except Carlisle himself. Next to Bella, Renesmee had the most control of all of them. I picked her up and ran into the house. I laid her on the couch and stood there to watch. Though I was confident, I still wanted to be there for every moment. Bella stood right next to me. All we could do now was wait.

As the hours passed, I couldn't help but think of all the things our daughter would never experience again. She would never feel her cheeks warm in blush again. She would never see the deep brown of her eyes she inherited from her mother. Never again enjoy the few human foods she had come to love, like cookies and salmon. Never again know the peace of a night's sleep. I knew I would miss these traits, but I will never forget them. I was saddened in their loss, but what was most important is my daughter was now guaranteed an infinitely long, healthy life.

Esme took it upon herself to tell the one person we knew would not be happy about this choice, Jacob. It didn't take long to hear his voice through the phone, screaming his disbelief, then demanding to speak to me.

"What the hell do you mean you are changing Nessie?!" Jacob's voice was clearly that of a much older man than the one we left behind in Washington. His genes made him age much slower than a normal human, but anyone could clearly hear the difference in his voice. I had not spoken directly to him in more than a decade and a half, and did my best to give Renesmee and Bella privacy when they spoke to him on the phone.

"Jacob…I know this is not what you would have wanted for her, and I never thought it would ever come to this since we knew that Renesmee would live forever without ever becoming a full vampire. Please believe me when I say we did not do this to offend you, nor did we make the choice lightly."

"Don't give me that bloodsucker (first time he had called me that in years). You always wanted this, even when she was a baby, you pushed that this was the best course. The only thing that stopped you was the fact that your wife was stronger than you."

"Jacob, if you have doubts in my ability to care for my child, you should know, this was Renesmee's idea. She knew she would die otherwise, and she asked Bella and me to save her this way. If her information is correct, she will be able to tell you herself by tomorrow." To that, Jacob had no response, so I continued.

"I will call SeaTac airport, and reserve you a seat on the next flight. Come out and speak to her yourself."

"I'll be there tomorrow. You had better be right" were his last words before the line disconnected. I was not worried about his threat. Firstly, he had given up the ability to phase for over a decade, so a fight was out of the question (not that I would harm him anyway). Secondly, he would hear the truth from the horse's mouth once Renesmee was aware enough to tell him.

The burning of my daughter's human half continued for just over 20 hours while the family looked on with mixed emotions. Emmett was excited, knowing there would be another full vampire in the family, while Carlisle was slightly disappointed since this closed any possibility of the Cullen family tree now that the last member of the family was now infertile. Jacob, who had arrived early that morning, sat stoically, watching her face, his mind nearly blank with worry over what this change would do to their bond. I had explained what Alice had seen, that Renesmee was planning on asking for the change, and his heart sunk, but he had no argument for me. But mostly, we all just sat frozen with fear over the chance that Renesmee had been wrong and this would do more harm than good. She squirmed and moaned, covering up how severe the pain was from all but me, since I could hear it in her mind. But as the last of her color faded away, and her skin took on the pearly white hue we all knew so well, we knew the end of her pain was near.

Her heartbeat had always been faster than I regular human, but during the final moments of her transformation, it sounded as if it was one continuous note, beating so rapidly that the beats were indistinguishable from each other. Then, all together, there was only one heart still beating in the room. Seconds later, she opened her eyes and breathed her first breath that her body truly did not require. Her eyes did not burn red they way most vampires did upon awakening into the new life, but closer to the amber a Cullen had after months of animal blood (I presumed it was due to the diet of blood she had been consuming for years already diluting her own human traits.) She turned to her family with a sheepish smile, and whispered "Sorry I slept in. It was my last time so I wanted to enjoy it." Her joke finally freed us, well most of us, from out frozen forms, and we all rushed to her side. Hugs and kisses were passed around, sighs of relief and happy vampire tears spread through the group.

Only one person did not rush in to greet the new Renesmee, Jacob, and she noticed right away.

Already in control of her new strength and speed, she was out of the group and standing in front of him in the span of half a breath. "Hello, Uncle Jacob."

"This was your idea?" Jacobs's voice was not angry, or hurt. It was hollow, empty. I knew what was coming even without reading his mind. Jacob had lost what had never been lost before without death.

"Yes, it was my decision. I could hear daddy's words with you over the phone. He did not make this choice for me. I was hurt and I knew I would die without being changed. I asked for this."

"I understand" were the only words he could manage. He already looked much older than the last time we had seen him, but in this moment, he seemed to age another 10 years.

"Jake, I'm sorry, but we had no choice." Bella had finally spoken up, moving to stand near Renesmee but wisely giving Jacob a few feet of breathing room. I knew what needed to be shared, and though he was hurting, this needed to be done now. Drawing it out would do no one any good.

"Jacob, I know this is not what you would have wanted. And I know that you are dealing with far too much. But you must tell them what this means. I know it's beyond difficult, but it is you're place to tell Renesmee what comes now."

Renesmee had a good idea as she could feel the change, but she still wanted to hear the words from Jacob. Though she had already said her goodbyes when she learned Jacob had decided to begin his normal life again, she still needed this final piece of closure. And she still needed to give her reasoning. But she needed Jacob to start.

"Nessie, I didn't know this could happen. But…our imprint is broken. The binding I felt towards you is gone. The draw is not here anymore. I feel like there is nothing holding me down anymore."

For the first time, Renesmee felt the tears of a vampire, the dry burning and hitching of her breath. But Jacob had started, and he had to finish.

"I remember the feeling of first seeing you. The feeling of iron cables attaching me to the center of my world, to you. Now it feels like I am floating, cut off from the world, and I don't know how to tether myself back down." Nessie tries to interrupt but Jacob continued. "I still love you, and I will still be your uncle Jay. I love you just like I love your mother. But this hurts me. I wish you would have said that you were thinking of doing this, given me some time to prepare..."

"Jacob (the first time Nessie had spoken to Jacob without a familial add on) I'm sorry that this hurts you so much. I didn't know what would happen between us when this happened. But it's what I wanted. I wanted to be the same as the rest of my family. Just like you."

This bought Jacob up short. He had only been thinking that she was leaving him, that their bond was broken and that he had to live without his niece, the only person he loved as much as his wife and son, for the rest of his life. He hadn't realized that he had made the same choice by decided to age again. He had decided to leave Renesmee, maybe not immediately, but when compared to the life span of a presumably immortal person, the time he had left with her was infinitesimally short.

"I needed to be the same as my family just as you needed to be the same as Leah and little Billy. You can understand that can't you?" We were all silenced by the gravity of her words. It was clear that she had not made this choice lightly, that she had thought it through and made an educated choice. Though she had the looks of a teenager, it was clear that she was still extremely advanced and that her mind was still growing even though her body had completed its maturing.

After a long silence, and a deep sigh from Jacob, he finally stood up and took a step towards Renesmee and Bella. He opened his arms to embrace them both, and with tear filled eyes said "It's a good thing my wolf nose is gone, otherwise I couldn't deal with this hug." We all began to nervously laugh. Jacob still had a hint of wolf sent about him, which was good standing so close to a now full vampire Renesmee and you could see that even though he hadn't phased in years, the stress of this day was drawing that power out of him. They stood embracing for a time, each saying their goodbyes (Renesmee for the second time) knowing that nothing would be the same between them again. Jacob stayed for the rest of the day, and left early the following morning.

"Hey, you know my promise still applies here. You ever need me, I'll be there. Though I am not sure how much good I'll do trying to save a nice shiny rock." Renesmee and Bella both laughed the way Jacob only could make them. They embraced once more, and the last piece of my wife and daughters human lives walked away. In his mind, Jacob said what would presumably be his last words to me.

 _You better take care of them Edward. And take care of yourself. It's been fun._ I silently thanked Jacob for all he had done for my family, promised him I would do everything within my power to be everything they needed, and wished him all the best in everything that was to come for him.

My wife and daughter turned back to me with expressions of sadness and joy at the same time. Finally, we were one family with an endless promise ahead of us. Nothing could possibly be better.


End file.
